European finance ministers on Thursday called for stronger asset-freezing laws throughout the EU, more intelligence sharing and bloc-wide limits on cash payments to combat organized crime. In an 11-page report, the European Council, which represents European national governments, urged the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, to consider 21 legislative and operational recommendations for bolstering the use of financial intelligence against crime syndicates and improving the bloc's poor performance in detecting and restraining their assets. "Estimations consider that the proceeds of organized crimes within the EU have reached €110 billion a year and that confiscation rates remain very low," the...
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